You only die once

Chapter 6C Tesla, the revolutionary

Chapter 6C

Tesla, the revolutionary

Returning to electricity and something I have been following as an amateur fan since my school days. I went to a science fair and was totally astounded by an hour-long movie back then in the 80s. The movie title has long left my memory. It was a video biography of Nikola Tesla.

Hearing the name Tesla today, one straightaway thinks of an electric car. I feel a bit sad that his name is being used actually. Sad, it seems, to associate a legacy of selflessness and sharing with 'money'. I'll let you judge for yourself.

Nikola Tesla was a genius beyond his time. He seemed to be able to see the future much ahead of his time. He had many ideas allegedly written down and allegedly many stolen. The most important was wireless. Only after his death was the invention credited to him. He never even bothered to fight for his rights of being the inventor. He was a sort of 'arch enemy' of Thomas Edison. Thomas Edison was credited with the invention of the light bulb, among other things. General Electric was his doing then. Most famously, his duel with Tesla was on electricity. Edison encouraged and promoted DC (direct current) and Tesla sort of invented AC (Alternating Current). Tesla was made a fool of and discredited at that time. He also invented the Tesla coils.

As history has its twists, a rich American businessman was in Paris. That was the first time ever the Eiffel Tower was shown to the world at the world fair. Tesla showed his theory and demonstrated AC electricity. As history would have it, the businessman saw an opportunity and believed the science he saw. A true science man, I would say. See the facts and ignore the rest. (This was in the movie I saw. Further research revealed that it may have been the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 that showcased Tesla's AC current.)

The Niagara Falls was actually built to produce electricity. The first hydroelectric dam ever built. (I am not aware of any earlier but I could be mistaken.) The American businessman took a risk and believed the science and got Tesla to build the generators. With that, the world changed and AC current gave us and is still giving us the miracle today. So, what's so great about AC current?

AC current comes to your house through only one wire. Not two. Because of the alternating nature and alternating wave produced, and because the electrons don't really flow in one direction, not much heat is produced. That's why birds perching on the wires don't become fried chicken. That's why steam is not produced like smoke when rain falls. Energy is not lost through heat. For DC current, you generally need two wires, though it is possible with one wire. DC current produces heat as an unwanted product. Thus, energy would be lost. But without DC, computers and many of the electrical items we have would not work. So DC and AC has to be used hand in hand. His invention of AC current is probably one of the first green energy concepts I could think of.

But as history would have it, Tesla died bankrupt and alone in a hotel. He was abandoned when he postulated that he could give the world endless energy and with an antenna (wireless), anyone would be able to tap the energy anywhere in the world. A visionary way beyond his time. He started his experiments and apparently showed early results. But, 'free' energy for everyone? No way. You can't make money from that. So he was abandoned. It is said that the owner of the hotel pitied (or was it honoured?) him and allowed him to stay with full lodging, food, and use of the hotel for years till his death in the hotel. It is alleged that upon his death, government agents came and carted away boxes of his later work, which has never been revealed again. Even when he was bankrupt and left alone, he apparently continued his work. He was a genius. He would do experiments in his mind and when he felt he had succeeded, he would pen it down.

Tesla was different from all the scientists I am familiar with. He did not wait for chance or opportunity. He created it in his mind and shared it selflessly with the world. He worked alone. (An apple fell on Newton, oops!)

At least the scientific community honoured him thoroughly by naming a unit with his name. Tesla is the measure of electromagnetism. In medicine, the MRI machine is quoted as 1, 1.5 or 2 Tesla, indicating the energy the machine can produce. He is placed beside Newton in science. Even Einstein doesn't have a unit. (At least he won the duel with Edison. Oops.)

History is littered with men of honour who had the courage to be different to change the world. Many are truly selfless. Salk and Sabin's vaccine for polio was never patented. They wanted to give it to the world. Maybe just as Tesla was oblivious to patents and acknowledgements. The person who founded Red Cross spent his wealth and time for it and died poor in a small Swiss town. Madam Curie, Louis Pasteur, and many more men and women make us all proud to have known them.

References:

https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/news/130-years/tower-highlight-1889-world-exhibition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/why-nikola-teslas-greatest-achievement-may-be-in-niagara-falls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio_vaccine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Red_Cross_and_Red_Crescent_Movement#World_War_I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dunant

Stay tuned. Chapter 7 will be posted before 6th March 2021.